Mansfield Town 2-3 Middlesbrough: Boro survive Stags fightback to progress
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FA Cup highlights: Mansfield Town 2-3 Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough needed a 95th-minute winner as they survived a Mansfield fightback to progress in the FA Cup.
The Championship side raced into a 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes as Uche Ikpeazu found the top corner from 20 yards before Caolan Boyd-Munce fired home.
League Two Mansfield rallied after the break as Oli Hawkins headed in and Rhys Oates slotted home from a tight angle.
But Boro won the tie in stoppage time when John-Joe O'Toole could only turn Isaiah Jones' cross into his own net.
It was a horrible way for Stags boss Nigel Clough to see his side lose after such a brave fightback against the club where his father Brian made his name as a player.
But Boro could have been more than two goals clear at the break had Mansfield keeper Nathan Bishop not pulled off two stunning saves to keep out efforts from Josh Coburn and Ikpeazu.
Mansfield, who had won 10 of their 11 previous games, were a different side after the interval and created a host of chances as Oates saw a close-range volley at the far post cleared off the line by Lee Peltier, and also missed the target with two heading opportunities.
Ollie Clarke also scooped an effort over the bar from inside the box, while substitute Danny Johnson was flagged offside when he tapped in on the line after Boro keeper Joe Lumley spilled a shot.
Mansfield boss Nigel Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham:
"We should have made it through to the fourth round today. I'm very disappointed with the first 30 minutes, I didn't think we started the game and ultimately that's what's cost us going 2-0 down - but from that point on it was brilliant stuff.
"The message was get one goal back, don't concede again and stay in the game. If they had got a third at any time and gone 3-0 it would have been game over.
"But staying in the game at 2-0, you get one back and you hear the crowd's reaction, and then we scored a brilliant equaliser, but that's all to no avail again when you concede a poor goal in the 95th minute.
"We had more than enough chances to score more than the two goals. We've been playing well for a few weeks and there's a lot of encouragement. We gave Middlesbrough a good game and it was a cracking cup tie."
Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder told BBC Tees:
"I thought we got right out of the blocks and I have to give enormous credit to Mansfield Town, their manager, players and supporters because it's difficult going 2-0 down, but their team rallied and I knew this was going to be a really difficult afternoon, and so it proved to be.
"The result is the main thing and we have got through a really tough tie.
"We can play better but they are on a great run. Any Championship team would have struggled today. We had a fight and struggled to get through but eventually we did."
Watch five third-round ties live across the BBC including Manchester United v Aston Villa - plus highlights from every match (UK only). Read the full details here.
